THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY-JUNE 2026 7 A Trifecta for 2026 BY JOHN “DINK” DINKELMAN John “Dink” Dinkelman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. PRESIDENT’S VIEWS O n this Foreign Service Day, as we celebrate those who have served our nation, I offer up a “trifurcated” column: equal parts gratitude, concern, and cautious optimism. Gratitude: In every organization, there’s at least one person who develops a reputation for reliability, stability, wisdom, and trust. They come to embody the ideals of the organization—which, in turn, benefits from their attributes as well as their service. Such has been the case with AFSA General Counsel Sharon Papp, who, as this edition hits the newsstands, will be retiring after close to 34 years with the association. Sharon is well known for her honesty and integrity. Thousands of us in the Foreign Service have benefited from her dedication, passion for justice, and, most importantly, visible care for the work she did and the people she did it for. The sadness we feel at AFSA contemplating working without her is (mostly) offset by the joy we feel for her decision to step into and enjoy a well-deserved new chapter of life. She will remain a prime example of how a professional life can be well lived while also being a stellar colleague. Congratulations and thank you, Sharon! Concern: Regarding the evacuations of thousands of Americans from the Middle East following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, what can I say other than, “It should not have happened this way.” While AFSA commends and thanks the hundreds of dedicated professionals—federal employees, contractors, and volunteers—who worked assiduously to support these evacuations in the face of increasing hostilities, I must continue to strongly protest the obvious disregard for the Foreign Service as demonstrated in both the planning and execution of the current war against Iran. It is appalling that thousands of our fellow citizens, including our diplomats and their families, would not be moved out of harm’s way prior to the initiation of hostilities. The treatment of Foreign Service family members as pawns in a large-scale military campaign is the latest in a growing list of examples of the low regard in which leadership holds these loyal Americans who have chosen to dedicate their professional lives to the nation they love. AFSA calls for responsible leadership to immediately conduct a full review of the decisions made and actions taken that led to our people being deliberately left in harm’s way. AFSA continues to support those patriotic members of the Foreign Service who remain at their stations throughout the Middle East, conducting America’s diplomacy and helping their fellow citizens in anything but diplomatic circumstances. We wish them and their military counterparts safety and success as they work to bring this war to an expeditious resolution. Cautious Optimism: I am grateful to the various employee organizations (EOs) and other FS-adjacent groups that responded to my request for letters about their on-the-ground realities in the wake of the cessation of official recognition of EOs in 2025. The responses demonstrate that there is much good work not being done to support our community— simply because well-meaning people feel stifled for fear of retribution. Even more revealing was some groups’ reticence to respond because association with organizations that have fallen out of favor is now risky. I don’t blame them—after all, emails sent to DEIA truth@opm.gov (established in January 2025 to collect reports of DEI initiatives) are not returned as “undeliverable,” are they? Nevertheless, I remain cautiously hopeful that this initial attempt to shine light on the challenges our profession faces internally will enable us to move forward—hopefully together—in determining how the Foreign Service can advance in this new environment. For this reason, I repeat my earlier calls for “affinity groups/employee organizations” to provide input to the Journal on their operational status. Write to journal@afsa.org. And I call on leadership to unfreeze EO activity and convene all FS-affiliated groups for a summit of sorts, where all parties recognize that the present divisions detract from our ability to serve the nation we all love. Share your thoughts by emailing dinkelman@afsa .org or member@afsa.org. n
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